Lithuanian Radio and Television

PARŠELIŪNAS Arūnas, forester, Alytus

On the 12th of January, 1991 we came to Vilnius in two cars. We stopped by the TV tower and the Press House, but for the most part we were at Parliament. A folk band played and we all danced together and sang. We listened to a men's choir, and at about 1:30 we decided to go home. At the Supreme Council, you could hear shooting from the Television tower. On our way home we turned towards the Radio and TV Center on Konarskio Street. Getting out of the cars, we heard shooting from the direction of the TV tower again. As we chatted, light tanks, a communication vehicle, and personnel carriers with paratroopers arrived. I realized that an attack was going to start, and we ran towards the Lithuanian Radio building. There were a lot of people in the street, but it was an unorganized crowd. Some chanted ”Lithuania!", others – “Fascists! Occupants!" Below, a chain of officers stood near the buses and fired into the air, at the Radio building, and at the windows of the neighboring houses. They were definitely firing real bullets, because you could hear windows shattering and plaster was falling.

We didn't move back because there wasn't anywhere to go - the door of the building was right behind us. Paratroopers began to beat us with their tommy guns, trying to hit us in the head. There were more and more of them. I dodged a blow, and saw a woman standing nearby get hit in the face with the butt of a tommy gun. She fell from the stairs, and someone below lifted her up. All around you could hear gun shots, explosives (and not just “explosive-packets", but stronger ones too), and people screaming. The invaders pushed us back by hitting us with their guns, and moved to the wall on the edge of the steps. One soldier broke a window next to the door with his gun and three paratroopers climbed inside through it. We weren't able to stop them. Our ranks were growing thinner - people were jumping one after another from the stairs, because we were being brutally beaten by gun butts. Then you could hear the drone of tank engines, and the tanks themselves appeared. Just after turning at the intersection the first tank fired. Our ears clogged from the impact and the windows around us shattered. People ran to the side. Later you could hear a second shot and there was panic. There were a lot of Russians around, and they joined us in cursing the attackers.